Multi-contact connector



p 5, 196 H. E. HENSC'HEN ETAL 3,340,439

MULTI CONTACT CONNECTOR Filed July 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mg; 26 23 II f I l 23 N 8 IF; I w

ept 5, .6 H. E. HENSCHEN ETAL 3,340,439

MULTI CONTACT CONNECTOR Filed July 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent 3,340,439 MULTI-CONTACT CONNECTOR Homer Ernst Henschen andMarvin Leo Yeager, Carlisle, and Dale Richard Zell, Elizabethtown, Pa.,assignors to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

Filed July 2, 1965, Ser. No. 469,092 2 Claims. (Cl. 317-101) Thisinvention relates to multi-contact electrical connectors for makingconnections among a plurality of groups of circuit components.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved connector formaking connections among groups of circuit elements. A further object isto provide a connector for making connections among, and between, two ormore printed circuit boards or their equivalents. A further object is toprovide a connector which is matable with an identical connector topermit stacking of groups of connectors, each of which has a group ofcomponents associated therewith. A further object is to provide astackable connector having provisions for continuous circuits orconductive paths extending from one end of the stack to the other endand also having provisions for breaking or interrupting such continuouspaths when desired.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in one preferredconnector comprising a generally rectangular housing member having arelatively large central opening in which a printed circuit card or itsequivalent is adapted to be mounted. A plurality of cavities for contactterminals are provided in the sides of the housing and extend normallyof its plane. Contact members are mounted in these cavities, eachcontact member comprising an intermediate socket portion which isdisposed in the cavity, a pin portion which projects from the socket atone end thereof and which extends beyond one side of the housing, and aflat contact tab extending from the other end of the socket and beyondthe other side of the housing. The socket portions of the contactmembers are adapted to receive the pins extending from contact membersin an adjacent connector, a feature which permits stacking of aplurality of the connectors with the projecting pins of each connectormaking electrical contact with the sockets of the next adjacentconnector. This continuous stacking of pin-socket connections provides aplurality of continuous circuit paths extending parallel of the axis ofthe stack. Such paths may be broken, if desired, by merely removing thepin portion of the appropriate contact member. The contact tabs are bentlaterally of the axis of the terminals and extend into the centralopening in the frame. The ends of these tabs are soldered or otherwiseelectrically connected to circuit elements on the printed circuit cardcontained in the housing. Selected ones of these contact tabs can alsobe removed where it is required to provide a contact path whichby-passes a printed circuit module contained in one of the housings.Connectors in accordance with the invention are usable with circuitarrangements other than printed circuit cards; for example, the circuitgroup of elements contained within an individual connector might takethe form of a flat integrated circuit package, a ceramic or glasssubstrate having film-deposited circuitry thereon, or simply a group ofdiscrete components suspended by their lead wires in the central openingof the housing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a group of connectors in accordancewith the invention stacked on a large printed circuit board with eachconnector having a small printed circuit board mounted therein;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a connector in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along the lines 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken along the lines 44 of FIGURE 2 and illustratingthe manner in which circuit paths extending from one end of the stack tothe other are provided;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of one form of contact terminal usable inthe practice of the invention; and

FIGURE 6 illustrates the manner in which the contact pins projectingfrom the lowest connector of the stack can be soldered to circuit pathson the large printed circuit board on which the stack is mounted.

A connector 2 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the inventioncomprises a generally rectangular housing or block 4 of suitableinsulating material such as polycarbonate or diallyl phthalate. Thecorners 6 of the connector housing have a relatively heavier crosssection than the sides 5, 7 and are provided with cylindrical bosses 8on the lower side 16 of the connector. Cylindrical recesses 10 areprovided on the upper side 18 which are adapted to receive the bosses 8,these bosses and recesses thus providing an integral guide means forstacking a group of connectors. Ledges 12 project inwardly from thecorners 6 to provide support surfaces for small printed circuit boards14 or equivalent circuit devices as will be explained below.

The height of an individual housing is substantially greater than thethickness of an individual board 14 so that the board is surrounded onall sides, and is protected by, the connector housing 4. The board maybe mounted against either the under side or the upper side of the ledges12 and may, if desired, be retained in position by a bead of adhesive 13applied to the sidewalls of the housing in the edge portions of theboard. This adhesive is often not necessary since the board can besupported in the housing by connections made with conupper side 18. aconical lead-in surface 24 is provided of each opening. Additionally, aslot 26 each cavity which extends towards, and

" communicates with, the central opening 3 of the frame.

The individual contact members 28 which are in the cavities comprisesfirst, second, and third contact portions indicated at 33, 32 and 30respectively. The second contact portion comprises a cylindrical socket32 mounted of the pins against damage.

The contact pin is made up of a pair of arms 34, 36 which are adapted tobe sprung together when the pin now Patent Number 3,238,- 497, forElectrical Contact Terminal.

The tabs 30 extend parallel to the axis of ,the contact member 38 sothat these contacts can be inserted into the cavities from the side 16of the housing until the end 38 wardly at 42 towards the printed circuitboard 14 and again laterally as shown at 44. The end of the tab is thenelectrically connected, as by soldering, to a circuit path of othercircuit element on a board 14.

Conventional small printed circuit boards are mounted in each of theconnectors of a stack as illustrated at 4a, 4b, 4c. The tabs 44 are thusutilized to make the appropriate electrical connection to the circuitdevices on the board. If electrical components are provided on bothsides sides of the board, the tabs can be passed through openings in theboard and connected to components on the remote side. In an individualconnector, it may be necessary to utilize all of the tabs for makingsuch electrical connections in which case the tabs which are used arebroken at 48 adjacent to the inner wall of the connector frame as shownin FIGURE 4. The remaining portion of the tab 40, 42 functions to holdthe contact member 28 within its cavity. It will be apparent that wherethe end portion 44 of a tab is removed from an individual contactmember, a through circuit path is provided which by-passes the printedcircuit board involved.

If it is desired to have a circuit path extending, say, from thelowermost connector 411 to the second connector 4b but not extendinginto the third connector 40, it is merely necessary to sever the pinportion 34, 36 from one of the contact members in the connector 40 at alocation immediately adjacent to the end of the receptacle portion 32 asalso shown in FIGURE 4. The invention thus permits the achievement ofcircuit'paths through adjacent frame members of any desired length andextending from any given connector to another connector.

As an alternative to removing the pin portion 33 or the tab portion 30of the contact member when it is desired to interrupt the circuit paths,three separate types of contact members can be provided to the user. Onetype would be a complete contact member as shown in FIGURE 5, anothertype would be manufactured without the pin portion 33, and the othertype would be manufactured without the tab portion 30.

In FIGURE 1, a stack of connectors having small printed circuit boards14 contained therein is shown as being mounted on a larger printedcircuit board 50. If the board 50 has pin-receiving holes and the wallsof the holes are plated or if eyelets are mounted in these holes, thecontact pins of the lowermost connector 4a can merely be inserted intothe holes to establish conducting paths to the conductors on the board50. If the holes in the board do not have plated surfaces or if theholes are not provided with eyelets, electrical connections between thepins of connector 4a and the conducting paths of the board 50 can bemade by conventional dip-soldering techniques. It has been found thatwhen such dip-soldering techniques are employed with the pins extendingthrough the openings in the board, the solder will wick up on the insideand the outside of the pin portions 34, 36. The pins can thus be used intheir conventional and intended manner for engagement with the socketsof an adjacent connector or can be used to affect the solderedconnections of FIGURE 6.

A salient advantage of the invention is that it requires only two typesof parts, the housings 4 and the contact members 28, although it permitsthe construction of circuits of any desired size or complexity. Amultiplicity of possible connecting paths are provided by virtue of therelatively high number of cavities 20 in the sides 5, 7 of the frame andcircuit paths can be provided in any arrangement desired such ascontinuous paths from one end of the stack to the other end or shorterpaths extending between individual connectors of the stack.

The circuit groups 14 contained within an individual connector housingare protected on all sides by the housing which is of rigid material. Aspreviously noted, the circuit group 14 may take forms of other than thesmall printed circuit boards shown, for example, a ceramic or glasssubstrate. These substrates are extremely fragile and subject tobreakage and a connector in accordance with the invention provides ahigh degree of protection for circuit groups of this type. The circuitgroup might also take the form of discrete components having their leadwires connected to each other and to the tabs 44 of the contact members.Again, the surounding housing of the connector provides a high degree ofprotection for a circuit arrangement of this type. If desired, thecircuit group contained within the housing member may be potted orencapsulated by a suitable plastic such as epoxy. The housing itselfconstitutes an ideal potting mold since it surrounds the component groupand would retain the potting material until it was set.

External connections to a stack of connectors such as the stack 4a-4c ofFIGURE 1 would normally be made at either the upper lower end of thestack, FIGURE 1 showing soldered connections with the lowest connector4a. Alternatively, conventional multi-contact connectors can be used tomake external connections at either end of the stack. For example,rectangular connectors having contact pins therein could be used to makeexternal connections with the socket portions of the contact members inthe connector. Other connector members having contact sockets thereincould be mated with the projected pins of the lowermost pins 4a of thestack. As a further possibility, the contact pins extending from theconnector at the bottom of the stack could be electrically connected toconducting paths on the printed circuit board 50 and a conventionalconnector with contact pins therein could be used to make connectionswith the uppermost connector of the stack.

While the disclosed embodiment of the invention includes a housing 4 ofrectangular shape which entirely surrounds the component group,alternative types of housings might be used. For example, the housingcould take the form of a single bar or block of insulating materialagainst or on which the component group would be mounted. A housing ofthis type would be essentially similar to one of the sides 5, 7 of thehousing shown in the drawing. Such an embodiment would constitute astackable edge connector having provision for circuit path betweenadjacent connectors of the stack by means of the contact members.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art andvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forthin the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is ofiered by wayof illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended tobe defined in the following claims when viewed in their properperspective against the prior art.

We claim:

1. An electrical interconnection system comprising, a plurality ofrectangular frame members having a central opening stacked on top ofeach other, a panel in each of said openings, said panels havingelectrical components thereon and conductor paths extending to the edgesof said panels, each of said frame members having a plurality of contactterminals therein extending normally of the planes of said frames, saidterminals each having a socket portion and at least some of saidterminals having a pin portion and a laterally extending tab portionextending from the end of its socket portion and into the openingdefined by the frame, said pin portions extending beyond the planes oftheir respective frames and being received in the socket portions ofterminals in the next adjacent frames, said tab portions of each framebeing electrically connected to conductors on said panels whereby,interlevel electrical connections are achieved by said pin and socketportions and said tab portions.

2. Means for electrically connecting the components in a plurality ofpanels comprising, a rectangular frame adapted to surround said panels,a plurality. of cavities extending through said frame, contact terminalsin said cavities, each of said contact terminals comprising a contactsocket and a contact pin extending therefrom, said socket having an openend adapted to receive a mating pin, a tab extending from said socket onone side, said sockets of said terminals being disposed in said cavitieswith said pins extending from one side of said frame whereby, aplurality of said frames can be stacked on top of each other with thepin portions of the terminals in each frame extending into, and makingelectrical contact with, the socket portions of the terminals in thenext adjacent frame, said tab portions extending laterally into saidframe and being connected to conductors on the printed circuit boardcontained in said frame.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Christian 317-101 Williams et a1.339-252 Miller 317-101 Stien et al 3l7l0'1 McDonough 3l7101 D. SMITH,JR., Assistant Examiner.

1. AN ELECTRICAL INTERCONNECTION SYSTEM COMPRISING, A PLURALITY OFRECTANGULAR FRAME MEMBERS HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING STACKED ON TOP OFEACH OTHER; A PANEL IN EACH OF SAID OPENINGS, SAID PANELS HAVINGELECTRICAL COMPONENTS THEREON AND CONDUCTOR PATHS EXTENDING TO THE EDGESOF SAID PANELS, EACH OF SAID FRAME MEMBERS HAVING A PLURALITY OF CONTACTTERMINALS THEREIN EXTENDING NORMALLY OF THE PLANES OF SAID FRAMES, SAIDTERMINALS EACH HAVING A SOCKET PORTION AND AT LEAST SOME OF SAIDTERMINALS HAVING A PIN PORTION AND A LATERALLY EXTENDING TAB PORTIONEXTENDING FROM THE END OF ITS SOCKET PORTION AND INTO THE OPENINGDEFINED BY THE FRAME, SAID PIN PORTIONS EXTENDING BEYOND THE PLANES OFTHEIR RESPECTIVE FRAMES AND BEING RECEIVED IN THE SOCKET PORTIONS OFTERMINALS IN THE NEXT ADJACENT FRAMES, SAID TAB PORTIONS OF EACH FRAMEBEING ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO CONDUCTORS ON SAID PANELS WHEREBY,INTERLEVEL ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS ARE ACHIEVED BY SAID PIN AND SOCKETPORTIONS AND SAID TAB PORTIONS.